I am flying to meet my cuise ship, what should I do about airport parking?

This question is often asked by passengers on fly cruise trips.

Airport Parking has a number of different forms and services, which often depend on the size of the airport for availability.

As the name suggests, Airport Parking is the facility for passengers to park their cars whilst using the airport to fly to meet their cruise ship or indeed other holiday destination. The facility stores the cars safely until you return. The various options of Airport Parking include, onsite, offsite and meet and greet.

On site or on airport parking

On site Airport Parking is classified as parking within the airport boundary fence. These car parks are usually alot closer than off site and many are owned by the actual airport. However, a point to remember is that airports can cover a huge area, so even if you chose onsite parking, you may still be quite a distance from the airport. The airports, depending on size sometimes divide their on site car parks into three categories, short, medium and long term stays. The short stay is usually the closest and more expensive with the long stay the furthest away. All car parks are usually linked to the terminals via buses which travel around the car park. Most of these car parks will offer some disabled spaces and some spaces within walking distance of the terminal, but these should be checked whilst booking.

off site or off airport

These car parks are often run by nationwide parking companies such as Airparks, APH or Purple Parking to name a few. These car parks are usually based within secure compounds a short distance from the airport, and use buses to travel between the car parks and the airport.

These car parks can all be viewed and security features reviewed and compared to the other options and one another.

Meet and Greet

The meet and greet option is where an authorised member of staff will meet you at the airport, assess your car before driving it away to a secure compound. When you arrive back from your cruise holiday, a member of staff will be waiting with your car.

This service is usually the most expensive but is also usually the quickest, with no need to get buses or transfer lots of baggage. It also eliminates waiting for the car to warm up or worry if it does not start. Passengers should always check the validity of the car services they select before booking.

Other services

In adddition to these services there are additional options such as combining meet and greet features, having cleaning or valeting undertaken whilst you are away and even having groceries placed in your car to save you shopping on the way home.

What service should you select. Well it comes down to personal choice. Personally, I always choose the meet and greet option as it means I don't need to worry about finding a car park or moving my cases onto a bus then out at the terminal. I also choose Airport Hotel option, especially if I have an early flight.

Airport Parking is all about choice to suit your needs. Don't jump at the cheapest option immeadiately, sometimes you can get some amazing deals for only a few pounds more, and this will save you so much time and effort.